California is installing solar panels over canals in a $20 million pilot project that involves nearly 2 kilometers of such panels covering important water sources.
The state is making this futuristic effort to fight this summer’s devastating drought with green technology.
The idea is simple. These over-the-channel solar panels are set to be installed at the Turlock Irrigation District (TID) in central California by the end of next year, and are intended to prevent rapid evaporation of already dwindling water supplies and vegetative growth, while providing renewable energy for the local network.
Solar panels over canals, the solution to the drought?
While the pilot project, called “Project Nexus,” will only serve as a “proof of concept,” it is a creative solution to an ongoing climate change catastrophe. The state of California was ravaged by a historic megadrought this summer, forcing officials to implement drastic water conservation policies.
TID cites a 2021 study that found shading 6,500 kilometers of public water supply systems using solar panels could save about 240 billion liters of water per year.
This amount is enough to meet the requirements of more than two million people, according to the organization.
California has 25 drought-addressing projects planned
The solar panels alone would generate enough power to account for “one-sixth of the state’s current installed capacity,” according to the TID website. quoted by Futurism.
Officials announced in late August that the state of California will receive $310 million from the federal government for 25 projects that address all of the historic drought conditions as part of the bipartisan infrastructure law that was signed into law by US President Joe Biden last year. last.
“Water is critical to everything we do, and it will take all of us working together to address the significant effects of the drought we’re seeing across the West,” said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.